Emmanuel Joubert

Electrical Propulsion: Flying Test Bed Platform Development and System Level Simulation

New power systems concepts are required in transportation systems since fossil fuels are becoming expensive and are very well-known for the pollution that they generate. Within the aerospace industry this is not different and in this way innovative thinking is necessary to develop new more efficient propulsion systems. The All-Electric CriCri is a project undertaken by EADS Innovation Works and its partner Aero Composites Saintonge (ACS) that was designed to act as a flying test bench, a technology demonstrator and an expertise developer in modeling and simulation of fully electrical aircraft. It is a re-engineered Colomban CriCri aircraft that employs four electrical brushless motors powering counterrotating propellers. Lithium-ion Polymer battery packs provide electrical energy for more than 25 minutes of autonomy. The aircraft has already performed more than 80 flight tests (more than 17 accumulated hours) including acrobatic flights, proving its capabilities as a safe technology demonstrator. This work explains some design choices made the team during this electrical aircraft development. Besides, the article presents system level modeling and simulation of the electrically powered aircraft including associated results. Model validation has been performed based on data acquired through dedicated measurement systems in the aircraft and forwarded to a ground station showing a suitable correlation between simulation results and experimental data.